An elderly woman was targeted by a trickster who conned her into paying money for repair work he claimed to have done.

The 88-year-old, who prefers not to be named, was leaving her house in Pembroke Road, Ruislip, on December 11 to go to the shops when she was approached by a man.

She said: "This gentleman walked past and asked me if my roof was all right. He caught me unawares and I thought he was a nice young man.

"I had men doing work to the roof a few weeks back so I thought he was one of them, but he must have gone past when they were doing it.

"I had already paid for the work and I was waiting for my receipt, but he said he had done some work on my roof when I was out of the house."

At first the man asked the woman for £500, and offered to walk her to the bank to get it.

The pensioner told him she did not want to pay that kind of money out just before Christmas, so he said he would accept £45. She became very confused and intimidated and ended up handing over the money.

She said: "I gave him the money, which was very silly of me.

"I will be on my guard now, but I want to warn other people because I don't want him to take advantage of others.

"I told my neighbour and she contacted the police."

The neighbor, Deirdra Twomey, said: "I don't think it was pre-planned. I think he just saw her coming out of her front door and just took a chance with it.

"She got so bewildered with this lad she assumed he was someone who had done her roof. She made the mistake of bringing him into the house and being intimidated by him.

"I organised the work for her in the summer because she has been ripped off so much in the last couple of years. I called the company who had done the work, and they said he was nothing to do with them.

"She is on her own and has no family, so I have told her if anyone knocks on her door not to let them in and to call me, but it just went from her head.

"I have a feeling he will come back because he knows she is an easy target.

"There's a lot of elderly people in this area and God knows how many people he has done this to."